Articles of Confederation

The struggle with England had done much to
change colonial attitudes. Local assemblies had rejected
the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, refusing to surrender
even the smallest part of their autonomy to any other body,
even one they themselves had elected. But in the course of
the Revolution, mutual aid had proved effective, and the
fear of relinquishing individual authority had lessened to
a large degree.

John Dickinson produced the "Articles of
Confederation and Perpetual Union" in 1776. The Continental
Congress adopted them in November 1777, and they went into
effect in 1781, having been ratified by all the states.
Reflecting the fragility of a nascent sense of nationhood,
the Articles provided only for a very loose union. The
national government lacked the authority to set up tariffs,
to regulate commerce, and to levy taxes. It possessed scant
control of international relations: A number of states had
begun their own negotiations with foreign countries. Nine
states had their own armies, several their own navies. In
the absence of a sound common currency, the new nation
conducted its commerce with a curious hodgepodge of coins
and a bewildering variety of state and national paper
bills, all fast depreciating in value.

Economic difficulties after the war prompted
calls for change. The end of the war had a severe effect on
merchants who supplied the armies of both sides and who had
lost the advantages deriving from participation in the
British mercantile system. The states gave preference to
American goods in their tariff policies, but these were
inconsistent, leading to the demand for a stronger central
government to implement a uniform policy.

Farmers probably suffered the most from
economic difficulties following the Revolution. The supply
of farm produce exceeded demand; unrest centered chiefly
among farmer-debtors who wanted strong remedies to avoid
foreclosure on their property and imprisonment for debt.
Courts were clogged with suits for payment filed by their
creditors. All through the summer of 1786, popular
conventions and informal gatherings in several states
demanded reform in the state administrations.

That autumn, mobs of farmers in
Massachusetts under the leadership of a former army
captain, Daniel Shays, began forcibly to prevent the county
courts from sitting and passing further judgments for debt,
pending the next state election. In January 1787 a ragtag
army of 1,200 farmers moved toward the federal arsenal at
Springfield. The rebels, armed chiefly with staves and
pitchforks, were repulsed by a small state militia force;
General Benjamin Lincoln then arrived with reinforcements
from Boston and routed the remaining Shaysites, whose
leader escaped to Vermont. The government captured 14
rebels and sentenced them to death, but ultimately pardoned
some and let the others off with short prison terms. After
the defeat of the rebellion, a newly elected legislature,
whose majority sympathized with the rebels, met some of
their demands for debt relief.